Q: When I was growing up my Grandfather, who was born in Ireland, told me that the colors of the Irish flag where green, white and gold. Now a days the colors are generally accepted to be green, white and orange -- the gold is officially discouraged. I guess it's a north vs. republic thing. For nostalgic reasons I'd like to fly the green, white and gold for St. Patrick's Day. Would this be insulting to someone? Is it some kind of IRA deal? Thanks for any insight on etiquette here! Thanks to everyone who answered! The reason I asked is because you can indeed purchase Irish flags that are gold (yellow) instead of orange. So there is actually a different flag, not just a different way of describing the colors. Also see the wikipedia link in gaelicspawn's answer -- there is a pix of a flag with the colors I'm referring to.
A: No. Green, white and gold is the proper irish flag, the first ever republic of ireland flag was gold instead of orange so you can feel free to fly the gold.